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The Psych Owl Ogist 5

“But I also think maybe Tweetil is just BORED.
Sometimes he pulls twigs out of the nest just to see how it was constructed.
When we were trying to learn ‘Feel the Thermal’ his wings were not developed enough to do it; but he thought the previous lesson was far too easy. And the way it was supposed to be taught annoyed him because it sounded like a nesty rhyme.
Sometimes I wonder whether there is a conspiracy to dumb down Tweetlets by talking down to them, slowing the pace of learning and not making them aware of possibilities!

They were supposed to chant
Flap, Flap, FLIP
See my wing TIP

And then they were supposed to dip one wing lower than the other while standing still.

But Tweetil would go zooming around the rim of the nest chanting
Flap, Flap, FLIP
See my wing TIP
Skip, Skip, SLIP!
Oops, I lost my GRIP!

And then he would hold his beak and take a bottom bouncer dive bomb into the centre of the nest; which would send clouds of dust and feathers all over Tweetelle, who was practicing Preening 101, and there would be tears and tantrums from Tweetelle!

“Ah yes,” said the Psych Owl Ogist “Tweetil is definitely showing signs of not being engaged in the studies at the current level.

It is important to pitch the teaching at what Dr Katherine Hoekman would call ‘the eyebrow wrinkle level’ of challenge – possible to attain with effort – but neither impossibly difficult nor far too easy.
Here is some more reading for you http://www.positivedisintegration.com/Hoekman1999.pdf

Professor Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi’s work, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, notes that people are happiest when they are in a state of flow when they are completely absorbed in the activity at hand and nothing else seems to matter. For the state of flow to occur the challenge of the task and the ability of the performer need to be matched. The task should be neither too easy nor too difficult.
You can listen to the TED talk at http://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow.html

So for when you next tackle ‘Feel the Thermal’ – get in the flow and bear in mind the flight launching advice of ‘chick-sent-me-high-ee’